


Counting On You

by bythunder



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 12:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bythunder/pseuds/bythunder
Summary: When implanted in a person's wrist, a TiMER counts down to the day the wearer finds true love. But when Sansa's TiMER remains blank, year after year, she begins to give up hope that she'll ever find The One.Based on the movie TiMER





	Counting On You

**Author's Note:**

> For @jonsa-week on tumblr  
> Day 1 - Soulmates

Sansa had known from the first second that she was absolutely, definitely, one hundred percent, getting a TiMER. The minute she read the first article about how scientists developed a technology that let you know, down to the second, when you met your soulmate, she knew she had to have one. To know with that level of certainty that you met The One, how could she pass that up? Her parents resisted at first, no thirteen-year-old should be concerned with finding her soulmate, but they didn’t understand. They didn’t believe in the TiMERs at all, they knew they belonged together and didn’t need some fiddly little piece of tech implanted in their wrists to prove it. But Sansa begged and pleaded and did her research and made very thorough arguments and for her sixteenth birthday, Ned and Catelyn caved and Sansa had her TiMER.

At first, the fact that it was blank didn’t bother her. She knew it only meant her soulmate hadn’t had their own TiMER implanted yet. Not everyone got theirs as young as she did, there was no reason to worry. But as the years went by and everyone else’s TiMERs were happily counting down, -Rickon’s TiMER had zeroed out only a week after he got it, how was that any fair!-, Sansa began to give up hope. What if whoever was meant for her never found her all because they didn’t ever get their TiMER? What a terrible reason to miss out on Happily Ever After!

Eventually, Sansa learned to ignore her blank TiMER. She got tired of the pitying way people looked at her when they saw the ----:-–:-–:-– on her wrist and she got tired of staring at it, hoping that something would finally change, only to be disappointed. A few chunky bangles covered it up well enough and most of the time, Sansa could forget it was even there.

Until the day it buzzed to life. Sansa was so surprised to feel anything from her useless TiMER that she’d dropped her coffee all down her front, but how could she care what a spectacle she was making when finally  _finally_  she would know! She tore off the bracelets and looked, hoping the number was small, but she could wait till she was eighty to meet her soulmate if it meant she found the right one. Except… there were no numbers at all. Or, not  _no_  numbers, but only one… 0000:00:00:00. Her soulmate was someone she’d already met? But that didn’t narrow it down at all! She’d met hundreds, thousands of people in her lifetime, any one of them could’ve been her someone and passed her by!

It was infuriating, how inexact these things seemed to be. (Or, how inexact Sansa’s was, because Arya’s worked perfectly, and now Sansa had to sit through her little sister’s wedding while all their relatives asked about Sansa’s nonexistent love life. “You’ll be next, sweetie, you’ll see.” Made her want to scream.) That’s not to say that her glitchy TiMER left her with no information at all. It had buzzed to life at exactly 9:23 AM on April 7th which means she knew exactly when her soulmate activated their TiMER. Surely that narrowed down the pool somewhat? But every person she met with a blank TiMER already had their partner accounted for.  

 

* * *

 

Sansa had taken refuge at her parent’s house. Everyone else in her life had their TiMERs, lived and loved by them, and frankly, Sansa was over the entire thing. She’d spent the last year going through lists of all the people she’d met in her life that could possibly be her someone, eliminating all those she knew had TiMERs implanted before hers sprung to life, all those who didn’t have TiMERs at all, anyone already married, too old, too young. No luck. And it was exhausting and disappointing and Sansa was tired of having her heart bruised time after time. So she was taking a break in the only TiMER-free sanctuary she knew of and next week, she was going to have it removed all together.

Sansa hummed around the kitchen as she fixed herself breakfast. Poached eggs dripping over toast, crepes with fruit fresh from the garden, and Mom had just restocked on that fabulous foreign coffee, was there any better way to start the morning?

She had just settled down when there was a knock. “Anybody home?”

Sansa looked up to see who’s head was poking through the door. It took her a moment to place the face, she hadn’t seen Jon Snow since Robb’s wedding or somewhere thereabouts. That had been an interesting night, only in part because Robb hadn’t married his soulmate. He got his TiMER same as everyone else and he’d met his soulmate during his second year of college. A really sweet girl named Roslin Frey and from the moment they met, everyone assumed it was only a matter of time before he proposed. So when he showed up to Christmas dinner with Jeyne Westerling on his arm and a ring on her finger, the family assumed that it was his way of dealing with cold feet, panicking over so great a commitment when they were both still so young. But standing before the minister, exchanging vows, it was plain to see that this was the real deal. TiMER or no, Robb and Jeyne made each other happy.

It was that that had started the conversation with Jon about the merits of TiMERs. Sansa, although she liked Jeyne well enough, commented on how sad Roslin must feel, knowing that she’ll spend the rest of her life knowing her soulmate didn’t want her. Jon had laughed at that. He didn’t believe in the TiMERs, true love isn’t a science.  Sansa argued that if they weren’t genuine, why did the TiMER company boast a 99% marriage rate and almost no recorded divorces? Even the best dating websites didn’t have a success rate like that. Jon countered that there’s a lot of power in faith. If you truly believe you’ve found your soulmate, it’ll take a whole lot to convince you otherwise.

“Jon, what are you doing here?”

“Ah, just popped in to see if Ned was here. We were going to work on the old roadster today. –Is he in?”

“Mom and Dad went out to brunch with Aunt Lysa. They’ll be back soon, though, if you want to stay. I made more than enough food, if you’re hungry.” Sansa held up a tray of steaming crepes in a tempting invitation.

“Looks delicious.” Jon reached out to snatch a strawberry off the plate when she saw it. A little flash a silver, carefully hidden underneath one of those hipster leather cuffs. Just like the one she kept covered with all her jewelry.

“Jon— What’s that on your wrist?” Sansa tried to sound casual but she could feel her heart beginning to race. She knew he didn’t have that the last time she saw him, he practically bragged as he showed off his bare, TiMER-less skin, proclaiming that he’d never be enough of a sheep to get one.

“N-nothing,” he fumbled, tugging the cuff further down. “Just stupid thing, thought it looked cool. Sansa!”

She was already unbuckling the cuff so she could see his numbers. 0000:00:00:00. An empty TiMER. There was no way, right? “When did you get this?”

“I don’t remember, like a year ago? Ygritte wanted… She said she didn’t think we could go forward unless we knew for sure.”

“Oh.” She dropped his wrist. Of course, he already found his. For one stupid second, she thought maybe…

“—We broke up when we didn’t match.” Sansa only just realized Jon was still talking.

“Wait, you didn’t match? So then, who is your soulmate?”

Jon shrugged. “Dunno. Thing turned on and immediately went to zero. I kind of think it may be broken.”

 _Thing turned on and immediately went to zero._ Jon met his soulmate before he got his TiMER. Sansa’s had done the same thing. Jon was on the list of people she’d met before that day, but that doesn’t mean he is— “What  _day_ did you get your TiMER? You have to remember!”

“What? I don’t— Early spring, sometime. April, I think.”

“April 7th?”

“Uh, yeah, actually. How did you know?”

“9:23 the morning of April 7th?”

“Okay, Sansa, that’s spooky. What’s going on?”

Sansa rolled her bracelets up her arm and showed off her TiMER, matching Jon’s with their flashing zeroes. “My TiMER activated at 9:23, April 7th. Jon, I think you’re my—”

“Soulmate?”


End file.
